Prayer Points (WE-110115)

So continuing the series of Prayer-Points after last week’s beginning, here are the points for your prayerful consideration.

 

• Arthur Sido

Two years ago, Arthur Sido meant nothing to me. Yet the wonders of this Internet business allowed me through various sources to come across Sido’s blog The Voice Of One Crying In Suburbia.

Another beautiful thing about this internet business is that you get to know a bit about people, without knowing the person. What you get to know about the person is the sort of thing that can attract you to want to get to know the person better. That is definitely the case with Arthur. He writes from the heart and is passionate about his key subjects. I’ve been so impressed by his writing.

As I am from the right side of the Atlantic, who spells words like favourite and colour properly and who watches football that involves the foot on the ball, I’m not saying that I want to write like him when I grow up. I’m just saying that when I’m more mature, I wouldn’t mind my literary style was as good as his!

His ventures into issues of church, worship and following Jesus are evocative and how he manages to link that to what he comes across in the media is particularly worth considering and engaging with.

The main deal with him being a Prayer-Point is two-fold. First of all he has just finished one of the most traumatic things you can take a family through – a house move (and his family is not a small one!). Having experienced that not too long ago and on more than one occasion I ask that you remember him in your prayers that the transition will continue to be a smooth one. The second reason is inextricably linked with the next Prayer-Point. In the meantime, please remember Arthur Sido, his blogging, his family and his walk with Christ in your prayers.

• Haiti – One Year On

When the disaster occurred in Haiti last year, my head was bogged down in other things. Since then, however, the issue has not really left my cultural conscious and this week saw a number of articles highlighting how things are a year afterwards.

This article on the BBC web-site looking at things a year on and it makes for really sobering reading. Accompanying that, however, there is also this report on how conditions have not really improved in the island and how political instability could make matters considerably worse in their rebuilding efforts. More supportive work on the statistics around the Haiti disaster.

It is clear as well as that essential aid to those in need that some divine intervention needs to take place at the political level and that is worth praying for in itself. That is complimenting that on the ground help that sees people’s desperate needs met.

This is where Arthur comes back in. As you read his blog, you’ll notice he takes the gospel imperative of showing the love of Christ to those in need of it very seriously. God has kindly allowed Him to find favour to get an opening to do work in the area. (You can see why he’s my kinda guy – no sooner has he finished unpacking his stuff – not sure if he’s even done that – then he’s off to serve the hungry, naked, thirsty, destitute for Jesus’ sake.) Arthur explains here why he’s doing Haiti and as you read that and the articles on the situation. Please remember the country and the mission of those with the heart of love to help in the time of need in your prayers.

 

• Education in the UK

Earlier this week I shared an article from The Guardian on Christian worship in schools. The issue is not an isolated issue for Christian parents to grapple with as we come to understand what our responsibilities are and how they relate to the society around us.

I sympathise with teachers under incredible pressures to deliver results. There can be a blame mentality in this culture that negates our own responsibility in the effective shaping, guiding and overall nurturing of the holistic development of our children. It can be all too easy to pass it onto the school and expect them to sort it. This was never meant to be and I feel for the pressure that the system puts the teachers under.

Yet that’s part of the point of this Prayer-Point. Children are subjected in school to a particular system. It is really the first time they will be subjected to an institutional approach to life and sometimes aspects of that institution’s conventions and concepts can seriously clash with true Kingdom principles. Teachers and school workers are not deliberately malevolent influences on our children – indeed I believe they are there to support the educational development of the children. However, there are elements of the system that are more concerned with producing economically viable outputs, rather than people released to explore and fulfil their potential in life, wherever that may lead them.

The plea here is to hold up the school and those who work in it as you have your talk with God. The plea is for those righteous people that God strategically places in this institution to shine brighter than ever before and counteract other spiritual forces that seek to lure our impressionable children to ‘alternative’ paths of life. Please remember the education system in your prayers.

Thank you for taking the time to take on this week’s Prayer-Points. It’s impressed on me all the more that prayer as conversation with God is as much about what He has to say on the issue, as our requests, so please be attentive to responses as and when they come.

Have a great weekend.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd